Search for the missing continues in north-west after downpour also sparks deadly flooding and landslides in India
Search for the missing continues in north-west after downpour also sparks deadly flooding and landslides in India
A massive cloudburst has triggered flash floods in north-west Pakistan, killing at least 157 people, as rescuers continued to search for people missing after floods in neighbouring India.
Mohammad Suhail, a provincial emergency services spokesperson, said 78 bodies were recovered from various parts of Buner district in the north-west province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by noon on Friday, and a further 79 were pulled later from the rubble of collapsed homes and flooded villages.
“The death toll may rise as we are still looking for dozens of missing people,” Suhail said.
The latest fatalities bring to 556 the total number of rain-related deaths in Pakistan since 26 June, according to disaster management officials.
In Bajaur district, in the same province, a helicopter carrying relief supplies crashed on Friday owing to bad weather, killing all five people onboard, a government statement said.
Sudden, intense downpours over small areas known as cloudbursts are increasingly common in India’s Himalayan regions and Pakistan’s northern areas, both of which are prone to flash floods and landslides. Cloudbursts have the potential to wreak havoc by causing intense flooding and landslides, affecting thousands of people in the mountainous regions.
Experts say these intense downpours have become more frequent in recent years, partly owing to the climate crisis, and that the damage caused has also increased because of unplanned development in mountain regions.
Dozens were injured as the deluge destroyed homes in villages in Buner, where authorities declared a state of emergency.
